Thursday, March 31, 2011

The Biblical Christian Network: "Prophecy Q&A" (11-21) Jack Kelley

 

Yes! Jesus is Coming!

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Thursdays Study in Prophecy

On Thursdays all day we bring a recap of the Week so far and a look forward of the Propehcy Sites and Teachings that make up the Biblical Prophecy Network;

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Biblical Prophecy Today chooses not to be a wierd or wacky service provider of every wild and wooly idea that someone gets from too much coffee; too much time on the Internet and too little time studying and "approving" what is valid, but we would see Jesus as Coming to this Generation.We abide by that motto that saved us in the beginning of this age of grace and we saw written on the sides of the wall leading into a little church at the time called Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa; It said:

"Jesus is Coming"

Prophecy

Q&A

Jack Kelley

(A-Series from 2011)

(1-100)

Ask a Bible Teacher

Jack answers your questions on a variety of Bible topics. Updated daily. Have a question? Send it to questions@gracethrufaith.com

(11-21)

Changing Churches

Q. We recently changed churches, for reasons not that important, now the church is not talking to us.  The other day we ran into the pastor he was rather upset with us and told us of all our mistakes we made in leaving his church.  Is this a Biblical thing?  Where does the Bible tell us we have to come to the pastor and tell him we selected another church to attend.   I thought that as the church we were all united in the same work.

 

A.  You’re not required to tell your pastor you’ve begun to worship elsewhere, although it is the courteous thing to do.  You and he apparently have personal issues that you should try to settle.  The Bible tells us that as Christians we should not leave these things unresolved.  It can effect our relationship with the Lord (Matt. 5:23-24) and is a poor witness to others.  Matt. 18:15-35 would be a good passage for you to study.

Why Doesn’t God Tell Everyone To Stop?

Q. There’s something I have been puzzling about.  Let’s say there are two good Christian friends. They both dabble in witchcraft and read their horoscopes every day. Then God tells one of them to stop doing that because he doesn’t like it. So the first person changes his lifestyle, but the second one never hears from God. They remain friends, despite the change. Now why does this happen? Why does God call one person and ignore many others who are doing the same thing? If the activity is displeasing wouldn’t he tell ALL of them to stop?
 
From a different angle – if you’re Christian and you believe Jesus died to save you, and OSAS is true, why does God call you out of doing certain things? Because if your behavior had no bearing on being saved, then you could go around doing witchcraft or whatever and it would be okay, wouldn’t it? I’m really confused. Please help.

A. God doesn’t apply His standards arbitrarily.  Through His Holy Spirit He convicts all of us of our sins. Some are just more tuned in than others to hear His voice.

As a practical matter God dealt with all the sins of our life at the cross (Colossians 2:13-14). Even the ones we haven’t committed yet are already paid for, so nothing we do can endanger our salvation. (John 10:27-30)

Trying to behave the way God wants us to is the way we express our gratitude to Him for saving us. Because we don’t have to do it, when we make the effort it’s like we’re saying thanks.

On the other hand, going off and doing things we know He doesn’t like makes us appear ungrateful and grieves the Holy Spirit (Ephes. 4:30). Our sins also gives the enemy access to us and can cause the loss of blessing or even persecution.

So because it pleases God and makes life better for us, it’s a good idea to avoid doing things we know the Lord doesn’t want us to do.

Do Angels Sing?

Q. May the Lord continue to bless you in this unique and wonderful ministry He has given you!  I have a question about Luke 2:13-14.  And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”  In passages like this we see the heavenly host ‘praising God’.  A minister once said that if you check the scriptures, we never read that the angels are singing.  He believed that only humans actually sing, not angels. Any thoughts on this statement?

 

A. I’ve heard this claim before and don’t agree with it. Angels can and do sing.  Job 38:7and Rev. 5:11-12 are two places that demonstrate this.  And the Greek word translated praising in Luke 2:13-14 literally means “to praise, extol, to sing praises in honor to God”.

Deluded By The Devil?

Q. I am in my seventies and have been a christian since my late teens and have truly been trying to live a christian life since my late twenties.  I have raised 2 sons that are saved, but, about a couple of years ago I was ill and the medicine the doctor put me on gave me a panic attack.  They put me to sleep and I dreamed that I went to heaven and was told, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you”.

 

When I awakened I was terrified so they put me to sleep again and since then I feel void of my relationship with the Lord and half dead.  Of course I know it is due a lot to the medication, but, my question is:  Could the Devil have deluded me all of these years?  I love going to Church and have taught several times during the years and sang duets and solos when needed.  I feel like David when he prayed, “Restore unto me the joy of my salvation”.

A. You say you’ve been a Christian for about 50 years and have tried to live a Christian life, and you’ve given examples of the good works you’ve done.  But the only work God requires where your salvation is concerned is that you believe you’re a sinner, that Jesus died for all your sins, and that He rose again. (John 6:28-29Romans 10:9)

If you have met this single requirement the dream you had contradicts the Scriptures, so it had to have come from a different source.  Paul wrote that from the moment you first believed your salvation was guaranteed (Ephes. 1:13-14).  The quote from Matt. 7:23refers to people who by their works appear to be believers, but are not doing the Father’s will.  His will, clearly described in John 6:39-40, is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and He won’t lose a single one of us.

Dealing With Sin In The Millennium

Q. I have heard that one who commits a transgression during the Millennium will have until the following morning to repent and make the matter right. Does Psalms 101:8 confirm this?

 

A. This is an opinion about the Millennium that can’t be confirmed in Scripture. Psalm 101 is David’s promise to make his life, his home, and his city pleasing to the Lord, partly by his own behavior and partly by getting rid of everyone who says or does anything evil there.

More On Falling Away

Q. Could the falling away happen due the the lack of sound preaching?  It is so very difficult to find a church that has preaching and teaching based strictly on the Bible.

 

A. The so-called falling away is due in part to the lack of sound teaching, and in part to the fact that many people no longer want to hear it. In 1 Tim. 4:1-2 Paul said, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.  Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”

And in 2 Tim 4:3-4 he wrote, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

I say “so-called” because the falling away only involves those who are Christians in name only.   Those with the Holy Spirit are able to spot false teaching and reject it, and as the end draws near they’re seeking the truth beyond the boundaries of what’s come to be known as organized religion.

Will The 3rd Temple Be Holy, Follow Up

Q. In your response to “Will the 3rd Temple Be Holy in God’s Sight?” you responded that “In order for the anti-Christ to desecrate the Temple, it will have to have been holy previously.  So yes, the sacrifices will be acceptable.” My question is: Acceptable to whom? They will certainly not be acceptable to God. Following Christ’s crucifixion the sacrifices were never again accepted by God and the Temple was destroyed.  Personally, I don’t believe the rebuilt Tribulation Temple will be anything but a one-sided empty service until the physical return of Christ.  It will be just as it was for the 40 years after the crucifixion of Christ.

A. Everything you’ve said about the sacrifices no longer being acceptable is true now and will remain so until the Rapture.   Then God will hit the reset button and those who remain on Earth will be back in the Age of Law for the completion of its last 7 years. We know this because a careful reading of Daniel 9:24-27 shows that the Age of Grace didn’t put an end to the Age of Law but rather interrupted it 7 years short of its promised duration, giving God the time to take a people for Himself from among the Gentiles.  Both Paul (Romans 11:25) and James (Acts 15:13-18) explained this.

For the End Times prophecies to be fulfilled, Israel has to be back it its Old Covenant relationship with God complete with Temple and sacrifices.  Otherwise the Temple could not be defiled because it would never have been consecrated, and the anti-Christ’s claim to be God while standing there  could not be called an abomination that causes desolation (Matt. 24:152 Thes. 2:3).

Anointing With Oil

Q. I have seen people pray for other people and “anoint them with oil” by putting a dab of oil on their forehead. Could you tell me the purpose of anointing someone with oil, and are there rules for this? Can anyone anoint another person, or do they have to be a preacher to do this? Also, does the oil need to be blessed, and if so, who do you get to bless it? I see anointing oil being sold all over the internet. Does it have to be a special oil?

 

A. What you’ve seen is probably an application of James 5:14-15:

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

Anointing a person with oil symbolizes setting them apart for God’s purpose or special attention.  It’s usually done by someone in a leadership position such as a pastor or elder, but can be done by any person praying over another. The oil itself doesn’t need to be blessed.

The oil you see being sold is usually a blend of olive oil and spices similar in some ways to what was used in the Old Testament (Exodus 30:22-25).  Many believers prefer to use special anointing oil when praying over others because of its Biblical significance.

Do We Sin Every Day?

Q. Do you believe a Christian sins every day?Our men’s group had a disagreement about if a Christian sins everyday. Thanks, I enjoy your Site very much.

 

A. You tell me. According to my understanding of the Sermon on the Mount and other passages, every time a man gets a little angry, impatient, or frustrated with another person, justified or not, he sins. Every time he looks at any possession of someone else’s and wishes, even for a moment, that it was his, he sins. Every time he considers a woman’s attractiveness, or glances briefly at the image of a woman in a movie, on TV, the cover of a magazine, or in some kind of an advertisement and however fleetingly experiences a desire for her, he sins. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Seeking The Lord

Q. My sister-in-law (who is Jewish) directed me to a Jewish website that explains why Jewish people don’t believe in the Messiah.  They claim that Christians have twisted the scriptures to make Jesus the Messiah.  I have heard this before, and I guess it just takes a leap of faith but is there any website to direct her to, or is it just not going to happen for her to believe until the Rapture and then I am hoping that people that I know will finally come to believe.

 

A. The Bible passage that has brought more Jews to faith in Jesus as the Messiah than any other is Isaiah 52:13-53:12.  In the Shrine of the Book museum in Jerusalem there is a copy of Isaiah that was discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It’s 900 years older than the next oldest copy of Isaiah and comes from a time before the Church was born.  It’s almost identical to the text found in most Bibles today.

There are several Jewish sites that try to say Jesus is not the Jewish Messiah.  Their claims are easily disproved by anyone who takes the time to study the Bible. InJeremiah 29:13 the Lord said we will find Him when we seek Him with all our heart, and in Matt. 7:7-8 Jesus said that all who seek Him will find Him. It won’t take some special website to convince your sister-in-law of the truth. All she has to do is decide to seek Him with all her heart.  She’ll find Him in the Bible.


 

"After Word"

 In the world of Eschatology there is a lot of money to be made selling books, doing seminars, giving speech engagements and generally sensationalizing anything that "sounds like" or "looks like" prophecy.

 That is not why we are here or what I do.

We would see Jesus

 And that is What Prophecy is all about.

Merchandizing and Marketing are the two largest leverages used in promotion of prophecy today.
They are effective, they work, and they also distort.

 We are about the Message.

 We try to remove the M&M's from the sites posting so you get less candy and more meaning.

We are ALL about the Message.

 It is not that we are ooposed to any Christian trying to make a buc, we simply choose to remove the dollars and sense so anyone and everyone can freely study and freely recieve the best, the most relevant and the currrent materials available on the internet to anyone who wants to know Fact from Fiction about End Times.

That can only be accomplished by personal study.
We aren't going to tell you what to beleive
That is the role of the Holy Spirit
but we are going to give you 
tools to study.

Current Series

Perspectives; Prophecy Q&A; Studies From; Rapture Series; Questionable; Book of Charts; Updated; News from; Warnings; Yes! Jesus is Coming!; Countdown to Armageddon; ViewPoint;"What Should Christians do"; with many more added as we increase till Jesus Come Again.